


Three to Start

by nothingeverlost



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-11
Updated: 2014-11-11
Packaged: 2018-02-24 23:28:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2600306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nothingeverlost/pseuds/nothingeverlost
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Henry says goodbye to his moms.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Three to Start

**Author's Note:**

> this is thestraggletag's fault. 
> 
> Set at the end of a slightly different season 3.
> 
> Not Regina friendly, just FYI

He wore a black suit that his gramps had helped him buy and a tie that grams had knotted for him. Under his shirt, unseen, was the swan necklace that had been his mom’s. His dad had given it to her.

Henry wondered if they were together now. He didn’t wonder if there was some place after death; knowing that there were so many worlds made it hard to imagine there wasn’t something more, and if there was a room full of fire then there had to be good places too.

"Henry? Can I get you something to eat?" Ruby was the third person to make the offer. Henry shook his head; thinking about food made him want to throw up.

"I need some air, okay? Tell Grams I’m outside if she asks." He knew she would worry. She’d barely let him out of her sight since everything had happened.

Ruby nodded. As Henry walked to the door he saw his grandpa standing in the corner, a little separate from everyone else. He was watching too. Henry felt almost certain that Gold knew where he was going.

He had something he needed to do.

The sheriff’s station was empty except for the woman in the cell. The cuff around her wrist kept her from using magic; she wouldn’t be able to escape. His gramps had locked her up; maybe he’d be the new sheriff. Henry hoped not. Graham was dead and now his mom was too.

“Henry.” His mother stood the moment she saw him, her hand slipping through the bars of the cell. He didn’t get close enough to touch. “I didn’t think they’d let you come.”

“They don’t know I’m here.” How many times had he snuck out to see Emma when she’d first come to town? He’d never needed to lie to see Regina before.

“I know things are confusing right now but…”

“No.” Henry shook his head. It didn’t feel right. It didn’t feel real. But he wasn’t confused about anything. It was all too clear what had happened. “We buried my mom today.”

“I’m sorry, Henry. I know you’re hurting right now.” He believed her, when she said she was sorry. For what it was worth.

“I think I’ll always hurt from it. I had three parents, but now my dad is dead and my mom is too.” Two years ago he hadn’t known anything about his dad. Two years ago Emma was just a name on a computer screen. Two years ago his grams was his teacher, he didn’t know gramps, and his grandpa was the strange man that owned the pawn shop. A lot changed in two years.

“You still have me, Henry. I love you. Someday…”

“I’m going to ask gramps to let you out.” He hadn’t known that was his intent, not until he said it, but it was true. He didn’t know if it was the right thing, but it was the choice he could live with for himself.

“Thank you, Henry. It was an accident, I didn’t mean for it to happen like this.” Her hand reached through the bars again. Henry looked away. It was a mistake; he could see his mom’s desk through the glass partition. He could see Graham’s jacket still hanging from the coat rack as well. On the desk was a picture of him and his mom, and one of him with his dad. His family, lost to him now.

“I don’t think you did it on purpose. But I think winning was more important to you than doing the right thing and you used my mom because it was the best way to hurt your sister.” He couldn’t mourn the death of the woman that was his aunt, but he couldn’t hate her either. She didn’t exist anymore.

“Henry…”

“I’m going to ask gramps to let you out. And then I don’t want to see you again. Maybe if you move somewhere else you can find your happy ending.” He wanted that for her, even if he wouldn’t ever be a part of it. There’s been enough suffering already. Maybe in some other town without magic she could learn to find things that made herself and other people happy.

“You’re my happy ending.” He’d never seen her look so small before, as she did when she looked at him through the bars. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” She was his mother. But she was also the reason his mom was dead. Just like Emma she was in his past.

“I can wait, however long you need. But someday…”

“No.” The swan necklace he wore around his neck felt suddenly warm. Maybe it was his imagination or maybe it was his mom, helping him. “Goodbye, mom.”

“But where will you go?”

“With me, dearie.” Suddenly his grandpa was there, a hand on his shoulder. “I think it’s time to go home, don’t you?”

“Yeah.” He had to get out of there. had to get away from the pleading eyes and the memories and the ghosts. “Please.”

He didn’t start shaking until he was in the car. Once he’d had three parents, and now he had none.

“When your father was about your age there was a lamb that would follow him around everywhere he went. We called her pup, because she acted more like a dog than a sheep.”

“What?” Henry blinked and looked at his grandpa, who was driving in the opposite direction of his house. But not towards his grams and gramps either.

“It would try to follow Bae into the cottage, and when we’d close the door it would wait right there until he came out again.” henry felt like he was only understanding half of what his grandpa was saying. It took him longer to realize that it was easier to breathe. he didn’t ask more questions, but listened as Gold told stories about the boy his father had been once. he tried to block out the thought that no one would be able to tell him stories of his mom’s childhood.

“Where are we?” He asked finally when the car stopped. The sun was only starting to set, but in the forest it was darker.

“My cabin. I thought we might do well with a change of scene. No one will bother us here.” There was a flash of purple. magic, he knew. The land they stood on was protected. “You can yell as loud as you like if you need. Or run. Or there’s a box of mismatched dishes if you’d like to break a few. It can be very therapeutic.”

“I think I want to go to bed.” He was drained.

Gold nodded. “I’ll show you where you can sleep.”

Henry wondered if the dreamless sleep he fell into was his own doing or if his grandpa had something to do with it. Either way it was a relief not to have any nightmares for one night. He had enough to face in the light of day.


End file.
